CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—The biggest, most sophisticated Mars rover ever built—a car-size vehicle bristling with cameras, microphones, drills, and lasers—blasted off for the red planet as part of an ambitious, long-range project to bring the first Martian rock samples back to Earth to be analyzed for evidence of ancient life.
NASA’s Perseverance rode a mighty Atlas V rocket into a clear morning sky July 30, in the world’s third and final Mars launch of the summer. While China and the United Arab Emirates got a head start last week, all three missions should reach their destination in February after a journey of seven months and 300 million miles (480 million kilometers).
